Stray Leaves from An Arctic Journal; or, eighteen months in the polar regions, in search of Sir John Franklin's Expedition, in the years 1850-51.

First edition. Folding map, four colour lithographed plates, further illustrations in text. 8vo. Contemporary half black calf over cloth covered boards, gilt tooling and lettering to compartmented spine with red leather labels. Bookplate of the Royal Cruising Club to front pastedown. Slight wear to joints, a little offsetting from turn ins to endpapers, small closed cracks to fold of map, otherwise a very good copy. x, 320pp. London, Longman, Brown, Green and Longman,

On learning of an expedition in search for John Franklin, Osborn was keen to get involved. "[I]n 1850 [he] was appointed to command the steam tender Pioneer, in the Arctic expedition under Captain Austin in the Resolute. Considered as a surveying expedition, it was eminently successful, and proved that Franklin's ships had not been lost in Baffin's Bay. Much of the success of the voyage was due to the steam tenders, which, during the summers of 1850 and 1851, held out new prospects for Arctic navigation. The way in which the Pioneer or Intrepid cut through rotten ice, or steamed through the loose pack in a calm, led directly to the employment of powerful screw-steamers in the whaling fleet. On his return to England in 1851, Osborn urged the renewal of the search for Franklin" (ODNB).

 

He returned to the Arctic with Belcher in 1854, again on the Pioneer, and remained involved in matters pertaining to the Arctic, publishing Robert M'Clure's Discovery of the North-West Passage by H.M.S. Investigator Capt. R. M'Clure ... (London, 1856).

 

Sabin, 57760

Stock Code: 226227